London School of Journalism

Phaedo · Jul 4, 2008

Hello All,

I am thinking of enrolling for their creative writing courses by distance learning. Have any of you taken their courses or heard anything about this school? Any input would be great.

http://www.home-study.com/dl/index.html

Thank you very much.

Rye-Ting Noo-Bee · Jul 4, 2008

Hi Phaedo,

I've taken their short story course. In a nutshell, it's not worth the money. The lessons are rather commonplace and written in such a stilted style they've probably been around for decades. The tutors' comments (I've had several tutors, they seem to come and go) are usually extremely general and very brief. Their reading of the assignments appears to be casual at best--although I was enrolled in the short story course, and kept submitting short stories, one of my tutors kept telling me I should use cliffhangers for my novel chapters...

You're probably better off with a course from Gotham or Writer's Digest (I've tried both). Granted, you don't get to submit as many pieces, but their critiques are usually worthwhile.

Hope that helps?

Rye-Ting

nevada · Jul 4, 2008

I have not heard good things either. In fact, some of their students launched a lawsuit claiming fraud that the courses did not teach what the school said it would, etc. I agree that Gotham is the way to go, or writer's digest. I started a writer's digest course, and it was good. great feedback, right on the money.

Phaedo · Jul 4, 2008

Thank you so much, guys! That is indeed helpful. I am so glad I’ve asked. I had a feeling something was not quite right when I looked at their site. They seemed too relaxed and flexible with their enrolment terms, no specific dates, not much detail.

I have now taken your advice and googled Gotham and Writer's Digest. Are these correct sites?

For Gotham:
http://www.writingclasses.com/CourseDescriptionPages/GenrePages.php/ClassGenreCode/FC#

For Writer’s Digest:
http://www.writersonlineworkshops.com/retail/courses.aspx?r=advanced-Short-Fiction-Writing -workshop

This would be my first time to do something like that, and I do not want to make any mistakes.

Thanks again, this is wonderful!

nevada · Jul 4, 2008

those are the ones. Good luck.

Rye-Ting Noo-Bee · Jul 6, 2008

Phaedo, if you're going for Writer's Digest, see if you can sign up for a class with G. Miki Hayden. I took a short story class from her and it was wonderful.

Good luck!

Phaedo · Jul 7, 2008

Oh, thank you, Rye! After much research (or somewhat), I have signed up with Gotham, and now I am waiting for their confirmation of my enrolment. I am forever thankful to you and to nevada for suggesting it in the first place!

I have looked into reviews and comments on AW for both Gotham and Writer’s Digest. Someone here has had quite a sad experience with the latter, saying that they offered little in the way of critique and that her teacher, after being repeatedly late with returning her assignments due to some family circumstances, had eventually abandoned her, moved out and misplaced her last assignment. Although it was 3 years ago, and they have undoubtedly improved, that comment was the deciding factor for me.

I wish I saw your latest post a little earlier; however, once I have gained more experience, I will definitely try Ms G. Miki Hayden (can one actually ‘choose’ a teacher?). As I said, this is my very first time, and I am not even sure I won’t be kicked out for not being able to write properly as far as fundamentals of Grammar are concerned, let alone composing a work of fiction. I am very excited and scared at the same time.

Thank you and I hope you let me stick around. This site is amazing.

timewaster · Jul 7, 2008

Phaedo said:
Hello All,

I am thinking of enrolling for their creative writing courses by distance learning. Have any of you taken their courses or heard anything about this school? Any input would be great.

I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but I am thinking of running a distance learning course for people who want to learn how to write, as opposed to collect a certificate. ( I will charge, obviously.)
I would provide a mixture of tailored exercises, examples and critiques. I would only take on people I could help and any applicants would have to send examples of their work and indicate the aspects of writing they found most difficult.

I wondered whether people would a) be interested and b) feel secure spending money with an individual rather than an institution?
(I also give very honest critiques and tend to tell it like it is. So I guess it would only be for people who really want to improve.)

Sorry if this is in the wrong place.
You can check out my website (which makes no reference to this scheme yet) on http://www.nmbrowne.com/

Rye-Ting Noo-Bee · Jul 7, 2008

Phaedo said:
Oh, thank you, Rye! After much research (or somewhat), I have signed up with Gotham, and now I am waiting for their confirmation of my enrolment. I am forever thankful to you and to nevada for suggesting it in the first place!

Let us know how you like it, Phaedo. I quite enjoyed my Gotham class, even though I probably profited more from the Writer's Digest one. Gotham definitely has the spiffier online environment.

Phaedo said:
I have looked into reviews and comments on AW for both Gotham and Writer’s Digest. Someone here has had quite a sad experience with the latter, saying that they offered little in the way of critique and that her teacher, after being repeatedly late with returning her assignments due to some family circumstances, had eventually abandoned her, moved out and misplaced her last assignment. Although it was 3 years ago, and they have undoubtedly improved, that comment was the deciding factor for me.

That sounds terrible. However, my own experience was the complete opposite.

Phaedo said:
I wish I saw your latest post a little earlier; however, once I have gained more experience, I will definitely try Ms G. Miki Hayden (can one actually ‘choose’ a teacher?).

Writer's Digest tells you upfront who will be teaching which class. So if Miki is teaching a course you're interested in, you can simply sign up for her class rather than someone else's.

Phaedo said:
As I said, this is my very first time, and I am not even sure I won’t be kicked out for not being able to write properly as far as fundamentals of Grammar are concerned, let alone composing a work of fiction. I am very excited and scared at the same time.

Phaedo, no reason to be scared. If you look around here a bit, you'll see how rare it is (and that's even among people who love writing and reading!) for anyone to write more than two sentences without mistakes in spelling or grammar--and you didn't commit a single error in your entire post!

Good luck with the course, and welcome again to AW!

Phaedo · Jul 7, 2008

Hi timewaster,

I've checked out your books, they seem to be my kind of genre. And I liked your 'writing diagrams', why haven't I ever thought of that?

I will be sending you a PM.

Phaedo · Jul 7, 2008

Hi Rye,

You are so kind! You have no idea how much your comment means to me! English is my second language.

Thanks for your time and I will be seeing you around.

Rye-Ting Noo-Bee · Jul 8, 2008

Phaedo said:
Hi Rye,

You are so kind! You have no idea how much your comment means to me! English is my second language.

Mine too!

Koobie · Jul 9, 2008

Mine three.

Great thread! I'll be checking out Writer's Digest courses (not to mention that they cost less than the London "School" ones, too). Many thanks for getting the links to the beforementioned courses posted here. Cheers!

London School of Journalism

Phaedo

a non sequitur

Rye-Ting Noo-Bee

nevada

Phaedo

a non sequitur

nevada

Rye-Ting Noo-Bee

Phaedo

a non sequitur

timewaster

present

Rye-Ting Noo-Bee

Phaedo

a non sequitur

Phaedo

a non sequitur

Rye-Ting Noo-Bee

Koobie

Super Duper Member